Thanksgiving 09

I really really wish I had had more time over Thanksgiving to report on all of the hilarious moments, as there were many, but I was busy. However, there were a few events that stuck in my head long enough that I can tell them now.

First off, we spent Thanksgiving at the farm with Nathan's parents. I prepared dessert and Sandy did all the hard work. At any given time we had as many as 9 children in one house, though usually they were separated between two houses. We actually got through Thanksgiving day without any catastrophe that I can remember and it was not until Friday night that Jonah set a silk down pillow on fire in the living room and sent all the adults into quite a tizzy. No one was hurt and other than the stench of burning hair, all turned out fine (the pillow was thrown into the front yard and It did look like we slaughtered our own thanksgiving bird).

We mainly played around the farm and Jonah discovered an old cowboy hat and Kristin's cowboy boots. He walked around saying "Howdy Ma'am.



The other thing that we did was have a family photo shoot, which was severely rushed and timed somewhat badly (as the babies had just fallen asleep) but it is hard to get six people ready at the same time. Here are a few pics...






The last funny story I can remember is when we went shopping on Sunday, three kids, Mama and Maw. We all loaded on to the elevator, the two stroller (one double) barely fit and we were laughing and chatting as we squeezed in. We probably stood there about 3 mins. when Jonah turned around and said, "Press the button so we can go up!" He actually had a little disgust in his voice. And indeed, we were just standing there staring at the glass (see through) door that clearly was NOT moving up. *sigh*

Other funny comments:

Maw asked if she could have some spaghetti and Jonah said, "No, this area is not available to you right now." He was apparently referring to the kitchen.

Jonah gave a matchbox car to his cousins and his aunt said, "Thank you Jonah." Jonah looked at her and said, "It's not for you." He turned and walked away shaking his head, "It's not for the whole world!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

How are they sleeping?

I get this question all the time. Or, "I can't imagine what it's like having twins." Well, no day or night is the same, but here is a sample of last night. It gives a good overall feel for the constant craziness.


In bed at 9:30pm

up at:

10:30 pm - Elias, feeding

12:30 am - Elias, feeding

1:30 am - Jonah (was naked and cold and crawled into our bed, Nathan took him kicking and screaming back up)

2:15 am - Elias, feeding

2:30 am - Bebe, feeding

4:00 am - Jonah (found reading InStyle magazine on the bathroom floor, "I just reading the paper Mama." Again Nathan came to the rescue and drug him upstairs.)

4:30 am - Elias, feeding

5:00 am - Jonah (don't really know what was up this time, Dada took care of it)

5:30 am - Bebe, feeding

5:45 am - Elias, feeding (up for the day - Dada took over).

7:15 am - Bebe, feeding (up for the day)

7:30 am Drink lots of Coffee!!!!



So, a big shout out goes to the Grandmas (G and Maw) that have continuously showen up week after week to deal with this brutal schedule and allow Nathan and I to skip a few of these wakings. And of course, not every night is like this, but some are. Our best night to date I think we were only awakened twice and for some strange reason we were way MORE tired the next day that normal. Weird!

One day sanity will return and you might even hear us say, "oh, it wasn't that bad," but that will only be because we have shoved these memories to a far far off place. Even with all that said, though, these babies are awesome and a true blessing. We might even wish we could come back to this place when they are about, oh maybe, 17 and 15 and 15 :)

Photo Shoot

During Jonah's nap the other day I was able to snap a few photos of the twins. They seemed happy enough most of the way through. Elias got a little annoyed towards the end and Bebe got tired and feel asleep. Jonah joined in a bit later, so we finally got a few pics of all three and Jonah even seemed to enjoy holding them. He did get mad at Elias for "pulling my hair," which was really Elias flailing around and tangling his fingers in Jonah's crazy long hair (he insists that we NOT cut anything but his bangs). Enjoy!

Elias - Handsome Brewster boy (Mama's side of the family)

Bebe - does she not just make you laugh?

Not sure who is fatter?

Elias just had to rest.

First pic before I decided I needed to wash Bebe's hair first. Grease does a number on curls.

Elias is smiling :)

How cute!

This picture pretty much captured all three kids and how they are. I just love it!

Elias - screaming

Jonah - well, being Jonah, just hav'n a good 'ol time :)

Bebe - sleeping

Jonah holding Elias......

Jonah ticked off at Elias for pulling his hair.......

Jonah happy again, holding Bebe.

Cooking with cars

Ever since Jonah was born I have been dying to cook with him. I always imagined standing around a big kitchen island with bowls set out, ingredients all nicely lined up and cute little aprons on (OK maybe not the cute little aprons). I would calmly explain what we were making, show him a picture, and continue to measure things as he dumped a stirred. It kinda went like a 1950's commercial for cooking spray or something.

Anyways, we had our first long awaited baking lesson. There were many many differences between my imagined scene and reality. First, there was no kitchen island, or actually barely any counter space to speak of; nothing was lined up or organized because again there was no room. We didn't have time to put on an apron, as we come by time like this infrequently with the twins around and we don't waste it on something like tying an apron. 

The most notable difference, however, was the involvement of cars and trucks (as many as would fit on the counter and in bowls). The magnetism little boys have to matchbox cars has always been interesting to me and I have commented on it again and again to my husband; but I never thought about cooking and cars. It really should have been a no-brainer considering where matchbox cars pop up in our life, but I was surprised. As soon as we started dumping flour in a bowl Jonah's eyes lit up and he said "my cars!" Like, duh, who would not think about including cars in this wonderful activity!

I did not argue or try to change what he was doing, mainly because I wanted to figure out, how do cars have anything to do with this? Well, of course, flour can be mixed with either brown sugar or cinnamon to make "diiiirrrrt! and sandy sand" according to Jonah. I think all in all it actually helped the process along and man he really loves baking now. Especially after I let him lick the beaters :) Here's some pics.

Lessons learned: 

Mama 

- include cars in the activity and everything works out! 

- let go of all preconceived notions

- expect more, he is smarter than he leads on :)

Jonah 

- cookies are good even before baked.

- mixers are scary

- when Mama says it's hot, it IS!

My boys

Pteranodons

For those of you who do not know about Dinosaur Train, well, you are missing out. Of all of the programs on TV today for children, and we have tried many of them, Dinosaur Train is our favorite! And yes, "our" is referring to Nathan and I :) However, it is also Jonah's favorite so it all works out. 

I never knew there was so much to know about Dino's. I thought there were only a handful of main ones, you know, T-Rex, Brontosaurus, etc. I was WRONG. There are so many that there is even an alphabet song about Dino's. We sing this often. We also talk about herbivors and carnivours like this is typical dinner discussion.

The other day before school Jonah looked at me and said, "I want to be a Pteranodon." So, like any good mother with twin infants I smiled and said, "Oh that would be neat" and went on about the morning routine (trying to get clothes on a naked running toddler screaming "nakie boy, nakie boy.") We managed through that, wiped some buggers and went to school. He again mentioned the Pteranodon costume.

I came home, feed babies, changed diapers, washed some dishes and prepared lunch. Jonah got home and as he was crossing the door jam said, "where is my Pteranodon outfit?"

Man, I thought, he is not going to forget about this. Nathan and I talked about how we could possible make a Pteranodon costume, but came up with nothing solid. After lunch Jonah was getting ready for nap and asked again for his costume and even used the word please. With the look in his eye and excitement dancing in his eyes I just couldn't let him down. 

Much to Elias's chagrin, we spent nap time going through fabric and pulling out the sewing machine. Jonah was quite specific about wanting to be Tiny Pteranodon, again you must watch Dinosaur Train, so it had to be green. Finally, we found a green blanket and went to town. I was determined to not let him down and indeed we had him a Pteranodon costume by the time he woke up!

Good thing we used a blanket because he now sleeps with his Pteranodon outfit! Is he not the cutest Pteranodon you've ever seen? 

Change of post

Quick update regarding the blog: This is the new blog for the crazy campbell family. The other one wasn't accepting video's so we moved. The point of this blog is to keep friends and family updated on the growth and humor of our four children; Maddie (12) Jonah (2) Elias (0) and Beatrice (0) - the last two are twins :) 

The twins are 3 months old as of last weekend and doing great! No, they are not sleeping through the night; please don't ask (j/k) because I promise that I will let everyone know when that day arrives. However, things are settling some. They seem to be developing a day time nap schedule (kinda) and are having more awake time when they are happy and alert. 

Jonah has switched classrooms at his Montessori school and is doing very well now. He is in the toddler program and will transition back to his Children's House sometime next year. He loves cleaning and the sandbox at school. At home he is still adjusting to the twins and all the screaming, but now tries to pick them up instead of hit them so we are moving in the right direction!

Maddie has just finished her horse season for this year and did great. Sky, her horse, was able to be her show horse this year and has really come a long way. Check out the earlier blog from today to see some of her riding. 

We hope you enjoy!

Beatrice smiling at Dada :) No story, just to cute to pass up!

The Bus on the Bus

Here is Jonah performing his version of 'The Wheels on the Bus," to Lucy. Lucy and Jonah spend a lot of weekend time together at their sissy's horse shows. No, Lucy is not my child also, she is Maddie's sister from Angie. As far as Jonah is concerned though, she is WAY more fun than his other little sister :)

Here are a few more pictures of the last horse show of the season.

Lucy is a little disgusted that Jonah decided to take a nap with his head in her stroller.

Dada always gets stuck holding the horse (Sky)

Sissy holding sissy

Maddie and Sky

Now here is the actual horse ridding :)